I mostly write novels, and sometimes other things. Most recently, Painter to the King (Granta)—a book about the painter Diego Velázquez, from his arrival at the court of King Philip IV of Spain, to his death 38 years and scores of paintings later. It’s about what is shown and what is seen; about art, death, life. It has pictures!

My first book, The Still Point, was published by Portobello Books in 2010; it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. The second, Orkney, was published by Granta Books in 2013.